Too much Too many, Enough!

Week 27^th – 29^th

End of the week, end of the month!

We said “bye” to Loli Gómez. She won’t be attending to class. That’s sad news but it’s also good news because the reason why she isn’t coming is that she’s got a job. Take care (farewell greeting, similar to “bye”) It was great having you with us! Good luck!

We started the week talking about plans and ambitions. Most of you have similar plans.

 

·        I plan to travel more.

·        I hope to pass the exams.

·        She’s looking forward to finding a good job soon.

·        She’s thinking of doing a course to become a free time counsellor.

·        He would like to spend more time in his hobbies.

And you continued the lines from a story I read. I paused and you went on (continued) the lines.

“An Indian Legend”

Do you remember?

·        Who was Black Eagle?

·        What was he planning to do?

·        Who did he expect to find?

·        What happened?

·        What did he decide to do?

The lake was named after him, how was the lake called?

Are you named after somebody in your family? I am. My mother’s name is Mª Ángeles. I was named after my mother.

We talked about diet and our body age.

According to scientific studies our real age and our body age are usually different. So, we went ahead and calculated our body ages. You are healthy people, well I was, when I was young. There’s no merit in it!

And your body ages are lower than your real ones!

In most of cases is because:

·        You don’t drink too much coffee.

·        You aren’t too fat, because you do enough exercise.

·        You drink little alcohol.

·        You have a good social life because you have a few friends and you often meet.

·        And you don’t work too many hours.

Study the chart below:

		Big Quantities	Small quantities
Singular / uncountable nouns	+	A lot (of) /plenty (of) /Lots (of)	(a) Little /(very)little
	-	much
	?	How much?
Plural / countable nouns	+	A lot (of) /plenty (of) /Lots (of)	(a) Few/ (very) few
	-	many
	?	How many?

“Much” and its compounds for singular; “many” and its compounds for plural.

·          “Too” before an adjective. He is too young to drive. He’s only 16.

·          “Too much” singular/uncountable nouns. There’s too much milk. Don’t buy more. It’ll go off!

·          “Too many” plural/countable nouns. There are too many chairs in this room. Take two to the other room, please.

·          “enough” before nouns. Are there enough photocopies for everybody?

               After adjectives. Are you hot enough? Shall I turn the heating up?

“very”, just an opinion. “too”, often with a negative connotation.

·        That boy is very tall.

·        That boy is too tall. If he continues growing up like that, he may have problems with his bones in the future.

And that was all!

/too much / too many / enough

Dreams and Ambitions

Week 20^th – 22^nd

This week we’ve met Sergio. Yes, we have met him because the week isn’t over yet (hasn’t finished). Today is Wednesday.

At one point in the class, Alberto left. Where has he gone?

Alberto: “I’ve been to the loo (toilet).

Remember:

        ·            He’s gone to London. (He hasn’t come back yet)

        ·            He’s been to Paris. (He went there and he’s back)

        ·            I’ve been in Madrid for 10 years.(I am in Madrid now)

Also:

        ·            Loli has never cooked a foreign meal.

        ·            Noemi has met a famous person recently. She met him a week ago.

        ·            Sergio’s had bad dreams several times.

        ·            They’ve been to the theatre many times.

We also talk about retirement, dreams and ambitions.

It doesn’t feel like a good moment to talk about retirement because you are very young and what you are looking forward to, is finding a job. But even though…

        ·            Do you know somebody who is retired?

        ·            What do they spend their time doing?

        ·            What are the advantages and disadvantages of retiring?

How about your dreams and ambitions:

        ·            What do you plan to do?

        ·            What do you hope to do?

        ·            What are you looking forward to doing?

        ·            What are you thinking of doing?

        ·            What would you like to do?

Think about it and let me know on Monday.

Have a nice weekend!

Listening Dreams and Ambitions

Have you Done it Yet?

Week 13^th – 15^th

Hi again!

Andrea, it was nice to see you again. Good luck with your exams.

We have a new classmate: Noemi, not Noemí, nice to meet you!

We started the class by correcting mistakes you had “made”, “do”?

Make a mistake.

·        What’s the difference between be funny and have fun?

·        When do you use Capital Letters?

·        Why did you go to the shop? To buy something or for buying something?

·        What do you use a knife for? For cutting bread? To cut bread?

·        The news is / are good.

·        Most of people is / are impolite nowadays.

·        The police is/ are looking for (trying to find)the burglar.

We had a quick review on present and past tenses. And we continued with the use of already, just and yet.

And we started the arrangements for a party.

               ·          Loli Torrijos has already found the venue (the place) but she hasn’t seen it personally yet.

               ·          Esmeralda isn’t in class today. She’s gone to talk to the Dj.

               ·          Have you downloaded the music yet? Sorry, I can’t remember if you did it.

               ·          Loli Gómez has already bought the food and the drinks.

               ·          We think Andrea has gone (she isn’t in class) to buy more.

               ·          Noemi, Alberto and Elena have already sent the invitations. In fact, they posted the event on the social networks and now the party has gotten out of hands (out of control).

We’d thought to have about twenty guests (people we invited) and now it’s going to be about two hundred!

Don’t panic! (Relax, calm down, don’t worry)We‘ve already worked out (made) a plan! We are going to do business out of the party.

Why don’t we sell the drinks?

How about selling tickets for the party?

Let’s ask our guests to bring some food or drinks.

Let’s see what happens…

Still/ Already/ Yet/Just

Happy 2014! Welcome back!

Week January 8^th

Welcome back!

It was nice to see you again!

Andrea, we missed you. I guess you needed a little longer before getting started!

So, your Christmas were very nice and I can see that you are very well- organized people. You had time for family, friends, fun and also for work. You did all the homework I gave you.

Today we talked and talked, until the cows came home (this is an idiomatic expression that means “talking for a long time”)

That’s how I learnt about your Christmas!

As for the lesson, we studied the use of already, yet and just with present perfect, as well as the use of for, since and ago.

Already and yet have the same meaning, but their position in the sentence is different. Yet, goes at the end of the sentence whilst already has a mid-position, that is, it goes before the main verb – the same position as adverbs of frequency.

Study these sentences:

?   Have you finished the exercise yet?

 -    I haven’t finished yet.

+    I’ve already finished.

The structure, to have + just + participle refers to an action that has been completed a short time ago.

I’ve just arrived home. (Right now. A short time ago)

Use of the prepositions, for, since, ago with present perfect or past simple.

        ·            Since is only used with perfect tenses.

He’s lived in Madrid since 2006.

        ·            Ago is only used with past simple.

He moved to Madrid 8 years ago.

        ·            For can be used with both tenses but the meaning of the sentences is different.

He lived in Santander for six years.            He doesn’t live in Santander.

He’s lived in Santander for six years.         He’s probably living in Santander now.

And that was all!

Next week we’ll check the first page (both sides 1C, 2A) of the homework I gave you for the holidays. We will also check the exercise on “already and yet” photocopy 4B a and b.

See you on Monday!


How to greet someone you haven't seen for ages